Digital push: Priests, maulvis to preach benefits of plastic money

New Delhi: In an attempt to fast track digital transactions, the AAP government will soon launch a campaign to make people aware about the benefits of plastic money. The focus areas of the campaign will be religious places, resident welfare associations, market associations, and other trade bodies across the city. Some religious places, including the famous Kalkaji temple, have already started accepting donations through e-wallets. The awareness drive in all the 11 districts will be directly supervised by the deputy commissioners, who in turn, will submit their status report to chief secretary Dr M.M. Kutty. The government has already set December 31 as deadline for cashless transaction of all state-citizen dealings.

A source said that government officers will be reaching out to priests, maulvis, and granthis to make devotees visiting their temples, mosques, churches, and gurudwaras aware about the benefits of digital transactions.

After prayer meetings, devotees would be given tips on how to make the maximum use of e-wallets to minimise the usage of cash transactions.

The government is also making efforts to provide swiping machines for recharging travel cards at all the metro stations. Even DTC has been directed to accept e-payments for bus passes.

Efforts are also on to see that rail tickets are available at railway counters through swipe machines and e-wallets.

A senior officer said that the government is in a regular touch with various banks to get actively involved in the awareness campaign. “A comprehensive report is being prepared on how effectively e-transactions can be made to ensure there is less use of cash for different services,” he said.

The government officers are also going to approach banks in areas that are facing severe cash crunch. The officers will also be preparing reports about ATMs which have not been operational after the demonetisation drive. “We are getting regular complaints from various places about non-functional ATMs. We will soon report to the banks about these so that alternate arrangements can be made for cash dispensation in such areas,” said an official.

There are indications that the officers may also approach educational institutions to make students aware about the need for e-transactions. “If students are aware about the real benefits of cashless transactions, they can influence their parents and other family members to go for digital transactions,” he added.